Savannah Marshall stopped Mirela Vargas in the first round of an electric MMA debut in front of her home fans at PFL Europe in Newcastle.
Marshall has made no secret of her desire to fight Shields under MMA rules, with the Hartlepool native revealing a big factor behind her move to the PFL was to pursue a fight with the 29-year-old American. Walking out in a Newcastle United shirt, Marshall looked focused before entering and side-stepped around the cage to a rousing ovation.
For the second time, Marshall then unloaded with piston-like strikes, forcing Vargas to cover up with little offence, and with the stats showing a 31-4 punch advantage, the referee stopped the contest."I've loved it, fight week, the training, the MMA community has welcomed me with open arms. It’s a tough sport and I take my hat off to any one who does it
But when asked if Marshall would be a regular in the PFL cage, she hinted that a return to boxing might be imminent if promotor Ben Shalom makes the right offer.